Down, in the deep places
by Talutha
Summary: When the Glittering Caves are threatened by an unseen menace, Gimli and Legolas go hunting... ABANDONED
1. Default Chapter

_A/N: I want more Gimli fics! Here is mine. This one is  rated G, but will become bloodier and heavier rated. It will also contain that rarest of beasts, a dwarven maiden…_

DOWN, IN THE DEEP PLACES

_Dimmer_. 

His breath always caught when he came to this place of stone and earth, and the scents of root and rock and ancient places invaded him. He glimmered in the dark places, carrying in himself the last sunlight he saw before he entered. Then rock closed over his head, and the upper world of trees and light and air were forgot. _Darker_. 

He footsteps brought him closer, deeper in until he felt himself almost lost to light. Then, the orange flicker of torchlight on the stone walls ahead, and he exhaled without remembering ever having held his breath. His step silent even here, he continued toward the lights. 

"Who approaches?" was the challenge uttered from two gutteral throats. 

"Legolas of Mirkwood and Ithilien. I seek Gimli Elf Friend, Lord of these Glittering Caves."

He stepped into view of his questioners, two young but doughty and capable looking dwarven sentries, one dark, one fair, who stood facing him, each with an axe that shone wickedly sharp in the torchlight. The darker of the two squinted at him in the gloom.

"Eh. Reckon you are. We were told to expect you, elf."

"Yes", he replied, "I was invited by Gimli himself to visit your realm."

"Aye," the fair one, looking him up and down,  "although I don't know how much help _you'd_ be."

The darker dwarf hissed at his comrade. "Keep your peace, Bóin. He is a friend while among our kind." He looked up at the elf. "I am called Wode, son of Kúndi. I welcome you to the Glittering Caves, and declare you friend that you may pass." He stepped aside and his companion, grinning, did likewise. Legolas carefully stepped between them, grateful for his lithe shape, and with a grin and a word of thanks, he proceeded down the now well lit corridor into the Glittering Caves.

_Deeper_.

It was the continual rhythm of pounding – chinking, chipping, beating and slapping – that affected him the most once he had become accustomed to the gloom and closeness of his surrounds. It was constant in his ears, all thoughout the city, although he supposed that to those who dwelt in this place, it was what wind in treetops was for him. The Glittering Caves lay beneath Helmsdeep, legendary retreat and fortress of Rohan. Although contact between dwarfkind and mankind was common in this area, and trade was rich for both sides, the presence of man or elf within the confines of the Caves was a rare and much occasioned sight. Legolas inhaled deeply the slightly dusty air around him as he entered the main thoroughfare that led to the Dúarán, called Meetingplace in the tongues of Men. He had been in this place before, twice, although on both occasions had neither stayed any length of time, or ventured much beyond the common areas of the established space. The dwarven hold was still being constructed the last time he had been here, and he was interested to see what his friend had accomplished in that time. As he walked, head slightly bowed to accommodate a still lowered ceiling, more and more dwarves gazed curiously at him as they walked behind of before him on business of their own. All around him was obviously still in a state of unfinished construction. Carvers and masons constructed columns and pillars in halls and tunnels ringing with the sounds of chisels and picks. Here and there hurried bearded shapes with rolls and scrolls clutched under arms and behind backs, plans for expansions and improvments. It was well known that Gimli, Lord of these Caves, intended his realm to be as grand as Moria. It was Legolas' opinion that the less of Moria emulated anywhere the better, but he carried little doubt that his friend could accomplish it given time. It was also said that the deposit of mithril which lent the Caves their name was the largest and richest ever known, although Legolas had by now realised that dwarves often became excited and abundantly loquacious about such things, regardless of the truth of the matter. He stopped and sighed in ill concealed wonder. He had reached the Dúarán.

Gimli had concentrated much of his recent building here, and it was not wasted. The room was massive, part natural cavern, part constructed hall. Pillars reminiscent of Moria stretched away toward a pair of huge oak doors in the far wall. The ceiling arched and soared above the elf's head as he looked up, and – yes – glittered merrily in the accumulated torchlight with constellations of mithril and deposits of other minerals. The sight made Legolas catch his breath, and recall the night sky over Ithilien. Around him as he entered, work paused and workers looked up at the unacustomed sight. Then a voice he knew well boomed over the ongoing background din.

"Legolas Greenleaf! Over here, lad!"

He looked, sharpeyed, in the direction of the summons, and spied his friend standing by heap of what appeared to be rubble that was being loaded onto a small handcart by another dwarf. Gimli waved, his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and his brow grimy where he wiped away dust and sweat. Legolas picked his way through the crowd of interested and watchful dwarves and approached. Gimli held out a hand in greeting.

"Ahhhh!" he growled, and, grasping the elf's hand, pulled him down into a hug. 

"My friend," Legolas said, though Gimli's embrace had forced most of the air from his lungs, "it is good to see you again." Gimli released him and stepped back, gesturing expansively. 

"Well? What have you to say about this place?" 

Legolas followed the dwarf's hands as they pointed out features he may have missed, carvings and murals in construction, the wrought iron binding of the oaken doors, the piles of what Legolas had taken to be rubble about the place.

"Rubble!" Gimli exclaimed merrily, "Rubble! Nay, this…" he leant down and picked up a chunk of the stuff and handed it to the elf. "This is mithril, lad. Hold it to the light."

Legolas complied, and drew breath as a vein of almost white shone from the stone in his hand. Gimli chuckled. "Did you think it was pulled from the earth already refined and worked into cunning shapes?"

Legolas shot him a rueful grin. "Indeed, I have not given much thought to the matter at all. With your obvious expertise, what could I add?"

Gimli clapped his friend on the arm. "What indeed! Now come! I have a feast of welcome waiting in my chamber. Malt beer, fresh meat…"

Legolas hid a small grimace, and followed the dwarf down another tunnel toward the Lord's Chamber.

"Beer!" Gimli said expansively, and filled his friend's goblet to the brim. Legolas gave him a small smile, and forced a little more of the liquid down his throat. It was bitter and distasteful, but he drank it nonetheless, because Gimli had offered it. He replaced the goblet on the small table. It was of a fine grained oak, inlaid with gold in the geometric design of the dwarves.  Gimli's chambers were well appointed, but not lush by any token. He had directed his efforts into his domain rather than his rooms. Legolas looked affectionately at the dwarf whose ruddy cheeks had acquired a somewhat exaggerated glow under the dual influences of ale and fireside reminiscing.

"It is not often than I am invited to survey your domain, Gimli," Legolas said finally, "although I treasure the hospitality I find here, and the companionship."

Gimli became solemn and grim, and stared hard into the flames in the hearth. Slowly he drained his cup and placed it by the other on the low table. He placed his head in his hands as if in some kind of despair, and Legolas' heart was moved by the sight of his friend's distress.

"Troubles?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral. Gimli nodded.

"Troubles," he affirmed. "It is not merely for the pleasure of your company that I have invited you here, heartfriend."

Legolas frowned. For the bluff dwarf to use elven terms, the need must be pressing on him sorely. After a minute, Gimli continued.

"There were a lot of natural formations down here. Tunnels leading hither and yon, around and about. Mithril and other riches in abundance. At first we took minerals only from the walls that already existed. But soon we began to mine, to structure and support, to create tunnels and shafts of our own. Then it began."

Legolas anticipated the need, and refilled Gimli's goblet. The dwarf drank deeply.

"At first, it was one at a time, rare, accidents, or foolishness. Or so we thought. But we cannot access the deep places any longer, Legolas." Gimli's voice dropped to a whisper. "Something _stalks_ in my mines. Something that snatches and mauls." He drank again. Legolas stayed quiet.

"The far tunnels are worked only by the hardiest – or foolhardiest – of dwarves in this place. Many do not return, and those that do speak of shadows and fangs and sweet singing in the deepest places of the earth. I have been to these tunnels, but whatever is preying upon us has not revealed itself to me… I am at a loss."

The dwarf turned to face his companion. "And so, my friend, I have decided to go on a hunt. I thought you might like to come." Gimli's voice was harsh, as though his throat was tight. Legolas cocked his head to one side.

"But, of course. I am glad that you consider me worthy to accompany you."

Gimli smiled. Legolas returned it, and forced a little more ale down his throat. They were silent for a moment, the only noise the continual din of the mines and the building. Suddenly Gimli tilted his head, as if he had heard a disturbance in the rhythm.

"Something is wrong…" he uttered. He sprang from his seat, and opened the door as footsteps hurried up the corridor towards him. Another dwarf, this one fair with two heavy plaits, almost collided with Gimli as he and Legolas left the room.

"Again," the newcomer said, "it has happened again. Kúndi has returned from the west tunnels with news."

The three turned and sped towards the Dúarán.


	2. Chapter 2

Legolas' scudding steps as he ran echoed from the walls of the tunnels they passed through. Gimli ran beside him, shoulders hunched, head moving from side to side. How many times had they run like this, above ground, chasing or fleeing or both? Behind him, he heard the solid steps of the lad who had fetched them, and before him, the Dúarán opened up like a great pair of jaws to swallow him whole. When they reached the high ceilinged cavern, he stopped abruptly, allowing Gimli to take the lead.

Across the open space, dwarves gathered, voices raised and lowered, and in the centre of the group as Gimli pushed a path through it, was an older dwarf, grey bearded and long braided, in a heap of bloodied leather on the ground. The lad pushed past and knelt by the fallen dwarf, tugging off his helmet and wiping some of the blood away with the edge of a tunic. Gimli also knelt, assessing the damage with quick eyes.

"Fetch Wode," he said brusquely to a miner standing by him, who nodded once then turned away and left in the direction of the surface tunnels. Gimli motioned to Legolas who knelt beside him.

"This is Kúndi, one of my overseers," he supplied, motioning to the prone figure. The fair lad worked quickly to clean away the blood from the older dwarf's face. Legolas could see a nasty cut above one eye, and a gash in the jaw that laid the pale bone bare. Gimli laid a hand on the lad's arm.

"What can you do for him, Nus?"

"Get him to his room, and I'll meet you there with Wode – "

A cry came from behind them and the crowd opened again to allow the hurtling figure of a running dwarf to approach. It was Wode, the sentry that Legolas had passed on his way in. The dark haired dwarf skidded to a stop and knelt by Nus, eyes riveted to Kúndi's still form.

"Father…" he breathed. 

"He'll be alright Wode, lad," Gimli rumbled. "Help me take him to his room, and Nus can help him there."

Wode nodded silently, and moved to take his father's feet. Gimli and Nus grasped his shoulders and they hefted him up and began to move in the direction of another tunnel leading away from the open space. The crowd, muttering, began to disperse. Legolas, forgotten for the moment, bent and retrieved the fallen dwarf's helmet from the ground where it had also been forgotten. The front of the helmet was splashed with dark stains of blood from Kúndi's wounds. Legolas stood for a moment regarding it, turning it over in his hands. He swallowed reflexively. Something had… swiped… at the back of the helmet, made marks like a knife blade might, but… Legolas matched his own fingers against the marks, four deep cuts in the boiled leather, parallel claw marks. He sighed, and followed the dwarves carrying the injured miner. There was a reason he didn't like the underground.

A short while later, Gimli emerged from Kúndi's room and out into the tunnel where Legolas waited, helmet in hand.

"How is he?" the elf asked softly. Gimli nodded grimly.

"Well enough. There was another wound on the back of his head – " he stopped when Legolas handed him the leather helmet, and his eyes glittered at the slashes in the back.

"How long have these attacks been going on?" Legolas asked, looking his friend in the face.

"Maybe two full moons ago, I first heard from the miners in the western tunnels about strange noises, singing or whispering. Or laughing. The first death happened a few days after."

What has been done?"

Gimli sighed. "Several parties have gone searching for whatever is doing this. Three, in fact. One, the first, was led by myself. Although we stayed many nights in the tunnels, there was no sign. Then another death, and a second party went out, this time led by Wode's brother. They were found by the third party, ripped apart." Gimli paused and looked toward the closed door to Kúndi's room. "That thing, whatever it is, has killed at least seven dwarven miners and warriors. Maybe as many as ten." His voice was as hard as the metal he mined.

"What do you mean?" Legolas asked, also gazing toward the bound door.

"Kúndi led a team of three others. I do not hold out any hope that we shall see them alive."

The two friends were silent for a moment, each thinking his own thoughts. The door opened, and Wode looked out at them.

"He's awake," he said shortly. Legolas and Gimli looked at each other, and followed Wode to his father's bedside.

Nus glanced up at them as they approached, then rose and went to stand beside Wode. Gimli knelt by the low bed where the grizzled dwarf drew laboured breaths. His wounds had been expertly dressed but his skin was pale in the dim light. Gimli reached out a strong stubby hand and placed it atop the older dwarf's where it lay on the bedclothes.

"Kúndi, old friend. It is I, Gimli. Tell me… what happened? Where is your team?"

Kúndi shifted restless, and laid his listless gaze on Gimli's face. Legolas was deeply shaken by the old dwarf's expression.

"I don't know where they are," Kúndi said, and all present leant forward to hear him. "We were in the western tunnels… That place is cursed, Gimli, cursed and will yield nothing but evil!"

"What happened to you, father," Wode said, his voice low and insistent, "Did you see what did this to you?"

Kúndi turned his face away, and muttered a single word that Legolas had to struggle to hear. Gimli released his hand, and rose.

"What did he say?" Nus asked quietly. Gimli looked bleakly at Legolas then at Wode.

"Gendi," he replied. "That was all."

Wode blanched, and Nus took his hand. Legolas looked from one to the other.

"What is gendi?" he asked. Gimli looked at him, and replied softly, "Gendi was the name of Wode's brother, Kúndi's other son, the one who led the second expedition."


	3. Chapter 3

They left Wode and Nus to tend to Kúndi, and returned to Gimli's rooms. They were silent as they walked through the tunnels. The atmosphere in the Dúarán seemed somehow subdued, although work carried on. Even the eternal pounding and chinking seemed a little muffled to Legolas as he followed Gimli across the open cavern and into his chambers.

They regarded each other silently for a moment, then Legolas nodded.

"Very well," he said, sitting lightly upon the floor by the fire. "We must plan what to do next."

Gimli sat beside him, heavily. "We must find this thing and finish it," he said darkly. The elf nodded agreement.

"So it seems. What tales have you heard about it? We must know what we are up against. I know of only one thing that has haunted a dwarven mine…" he said, finishing grimly. Gimli shook his head.

"No, it is not a balrog. A balrog… it will charge and destroy and roar in your face with scalding breath. A balrog would have torn down the Glittering Caves around our ears by now. No, this," he said, "this is something different. Something more cunningly wrought, I think."

Gimli pondered for a moment.

"The first we heard of it was from a team in the western tunnels. They returned with a tale of sweet singing from the depths of a shaft. One compared it to a mother crooning a lullaby. Another compared it to a maid of Rohan singing a gay love song. Another yet compared it to a child singing a rhyming song, and another to a dwarven legend - song. Yet all agreed that it was sweet, and drew them to the shaft mouth with its beauty."

"And?" Legolas prompted. "Did they follow the sound?"

"No. Even under the influence of the song, they realised that no mother or maiden would be at the end of a drop shaft. Whatver was making the noise, it was not something that any dwarven miner would approach willingly."

Legolas nodded again. "Yes. What else?"

"The thing was silent for a few days, then teams began to complain of feeling watched, of hearing shuffling ahead of them as they traversed the tunnels, only to find nothing there. One told a tale of hearing his name called, as if from a great distance."

Legolas looked the ruddy dwarf in the eyes.

"And what did they think it was? What tales or histories have your kind about demons in the depths?"

Gimli shrugged, uncharacteristically. "I have thought on this, and consulted with many others here as well. We can think of nothing."

"And the deaths? What about those?"

"The first was when an engineer failed to return from installing some tunnel supports in a new shaft in the western section. Searchers discovered him – what was left of him."

Gimli turned away from the elf, and stared into the fire. Legolas prompted him to continue – Gimli made an exasperated noise.

"He was strewn from here to Lorien, lad! Something had torn him apart."

"Were all the deaths that violent?" Legolas asked, his face hardening. Gimli shook his head.

"No. Some seemed almost peaceful, a broken neck, or single wound. One, a lad newly arrived from Erebor, on his first foray into the mines, he didn't have a mark on him. But his face…"

The two were silent once more, faces dark and hard in the firelight. Legolas pondered the situation before him. Obviously something had taken up residence – or had been disturbed – in the western tunnels. Something that lured dwarves to their deaths, and was strong and fast enough to rip a capable dwarf to pieces, let alone take out an entire unit of tough dwarven miners, who, Legolas knew, wielded a pick as well as they wielded an axe. A thought occurred to him.

"How do you know there isn't more than one of these things, Gimli? It seems impossible to me that a single beast might slaughter an entire team of armed dwarves."

Gimli shot him a look of approval at the compliment, then shook his head.

"I just don't know what's down there, in the deep."

"Why did Kúndi say his son's name when questioned about what had killed him? He must have been so stricken that he was thinking of his dead son."

Gimli looked thoughtful, but nodded. "Aye, Legolas. Aye." He was quiet for a moment, then rose and reached for an axe which leant against the wall by the door. Legolas recognised it immediately as belonging to Gimli – and being capable of inflicting large amounts of damage. Gimli's eyes were mithril as he spoke.

"This axe has felled orcs, uruk and all manner of evil things. I will take back my domain from this thing that haunts it."

Legolas rose, his eyes similarly glittering with a look that Gimli recognised. "We will take back your domain, heartfriend," the elf replied.


End file.
